12 may 2014

Made In, Strasbourg approves

EU makes the indication of the country of origin mandatory

Italy wins the first half of the European match for the MADE IN label prevailing on the German obstructionism. On last April, Strasbourg approved the proposal for a regulation on the safety of consumer products, indeed. With 485 votes in favour, 130 against and 27 abstentions, the European Parliament asked to overcome the existing voluntary system and make the indication of the country of origin mandatory for all manufacturers and importers.
This is the end of a long action started in 2005 when Italy strongly asked a law able to offer more information to consumers and step up the fight against counterfeiting.
But the opposition of Germany and the Anglo Scandinavian area made the process difficult. The reasons are evident: the indication of the country of origin on products is clearly crucial for Italy, whereas the advantage for Germany is doubtful.

The Danish speaker on product safety Christel Schaldemose defined this vote “a big step towards the transparency of the supply chain”, but she also censured the member countries for not being capable of finding a common position within the Council on the law in its whole. After the recent decision, negotiations should now come to a positive conclusion.

Sergio Cofferati, the vice president of the parliamentary commission for theinternal market and protection of consumers, said that “the Council should only take acknowledge of the Parliament’s vote and respect it”.

If everything works, the MADE IN label will become mandatory for all non food products sold in the Union, except for medicines and other articles. The proposal approved in Strasbourg gives manufacturers the opportunity of declaring the Made in EU origin or specifying the precise name of country, but this is a detail that doensn’t belittle the importance of the vote.
As for goods produced outside Europe, the country of origin has to be considered the country where “the last transformation or substantial processing” has happened and this is much more than a simple detail. For example, if a shirt is made in Bangladesh, but buttons are sewn in Italy as a last passage, the final product can be labelled Made in Italy.
A true achievement is the request concerning the sanctions against defaulting countries. These sanctions will have to be “proporzioned and dissuasive”, taking into consideration the severity, the duration, the intentional or recurring nature of the trasgression as well as the company’s dimensions.

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